January 18th, 1868.

On the day fixed for his departure from Tasmania, 18th January 1868, H.R.H Prince Alfred was presented with an album of photographs.The album contained “eighty three photographs illustrative of the scenery of Tasmania, forty eight portraits of children born in the colony, and nine plates immediately connected with the Prince’s visit” according to the report of the visit written by John George Knight (transcript and link below).

Among the 48 photographic portraits of Tasmanian children in the album was this portrait by Thomas Nevin and his partner Robert Smith:

STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
[Studio portrait of two children] Nevin & Smith.
Digital image(s):
Creator: Nevin & Smith, photographer.
Title: [Studio portrait of two children] [picture] / Nevin & Smith.
Access/Copyright: Reproduction rights: State Library of Victoria
Accession number(s):H2005.34/2004 H2005.34/2004A
Date(s) of creation: [ca. 1867-ca. 1875]
Medium: 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen silver, hand col. ;
Dimensions: 11 x 7 cm.
Collection: John Etkins collection.
Photographer printed on verso: From / Nevin & Smith / late Bock’s / 140 Elizabeth Street / Hobart Town.
Source/Donor: Gift of Mr John Etkins; 2005.

The photograph bears a rare studio stamp by Nevin & Smith on the verso which features the royal insignia of three feathers and a coronet, banded with the German “ICH DIEN” (I serve). This variation of the Nevin & Smith stamp has never before surfaced in either private or public collections. The wording “From NEVIN & SMITH” clearly indicates it was intended to be to pre-SENT-ed to its royal recipient.

According to Jack Cato in The Story of the Camera in Australia (1977 ed. p.58), a group of Tasmanian photographers was invited to contribute. Cato says:

“All the cities presented the Duke with official albums of photographs, and many photographers presented private ones. Henry Johnstone gave him a book of pictures of the beautiful women of Victoria. Charles Nettleton gave a book of prints of Melbourne and the countryside. But best of all was the one given by the photographers of Tasmania – a collection of prints showing the beautiful children of the island. The Duke was so charmed with it that he requested a duplicate album be made and sent to his mother.”

Where is this album? Four photographers were commissioned by the colonial government of Tasmania to document the Duke’s visit, notably Samuel Clifford and George Cherry, and possibly Cato is referring to this group, but the 48 children’s portraits as a collection per se taken by Tasmanian photographers to commemorate the event as a Royal gift has yet to come to light.

Thomas Nevin set up the firm Nevin & Smith ca. 1865 at the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town, in partnership with Robert Smith. However, by February 1868, just weeks after the Duke’s visit, the partnership was dissolved.

Above: Dissolution notice published in The Mercury on 26 February 1868 of the partnership between Robert Smith and Thomas Nevin. William Robert Giblin, later Attorney-General and Premier, was Thomas Nevin’s solicitor and witness, and subsequently his mentor and employer for the colonial government’s prisoner photographs commission.

TRANSCRIPT
… on Saturday 18th January (the day fixed for his departure) on board the Galatea, to his Excellency the Governor, Mrs Gore Browne and Miss Gore Browne, Her Majesty’s Ministers, the Chairman of the Reception Committee, the Hon JM Wilson MLC, and Mr Tarleton and advantage was taken of this farewell interview to place in the Prince’s hands the album of photographs of Tasmanian scenery which had been prepared under the direction of the Reception Committee for presentation to him from the colonists as a memorial of his visit. The album contained eighty three photographs illustrative of the scenery of Tasmania forty eight portraits of children born in the colony and nine plates immediately connected with the Prince’s visit. The title page was drawn by Mr Alfred Randall and illustrated by Mr WC Piguenit. His Royal Highness was pleased to request that the Reception Committee would furnish him with duplicate copies of all the pictures for the illustration of a work which his Royal Highness is preparing in connection with his visit to the Australasian Colonies. After the presentation the guests sat down to luncheon with his Royal Highness in the state reception saloon of the Galatea. Lord Newry and the Prince’s suite were also present. The Prince’s guests bade their Royal host farewell about half past two pm when steam was got up and the anchors were weighed. At three o clock the noble vessel steamed slowly down the estuary of the Derwent and the Prince bidding adieu to Tasmania proceeded on his voyage to Sydney.

Source: p210 Narrative of the Visit of the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh…
Narrative of the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to the colony of Victoria, Australia by John George Knight. Download pdf here.

This second portrait of a child (below) may have been another of the several taken by Nevin specifically for the Duke’s album which he then reprinted for inclusion in the later duplicate album – the second version – which the Duke requested from the Reception Committee. Since Nevin and Smith had dissolved their partnership less than a month after the Duke’s request, Nevin had no choice but to reprint this one with a stamp bearing his name and the Royal Arms insignia, a stamp which he continued to use throughout the 1870s for official and public commissions, and notably for his government commission to photograph prisoners at the Port Arthur and Hobart Town gaols for their prison records and the Police Criminal Registers.

Who were they? They were photographer T.J. Nevin’s sitters for police records.

Above: Wall chart or poster of Tasmanian convicts produced by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority ca. 1991 with photographs by Thomas Nevin from the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Beattie Collection.

This poster or wall chart is for sale at the National Trust’s Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site, adjacent to the site of the former Hobart Gaol. Its montage of Thomas Nevin’s portraits of Tasmanian convicts (1870s) was compiled from John Watt Beattie’s donated collection (ca. 1927) at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority is credited with its production, according to the caption on lower border, left, and presumably for its large titles: “WHO WERE THEY?” and “THE CONVICTS OF PORT ARTHUR”. The poster or wall chart was published as a booklet ca. 1991, according to Libraries Australia catalogue notes:

Several of these convicts were indeed incarcerated as transportees at Port Arthur at some time during their criminal careers, and some were local offenders or “native”. But they were not photographed because they had been transported convicts per se (transportation ended in 1853), but because they were habitual offenders, escapees and recidivists. Their photographs were commissioned and used by the Town Hall Police Office and Prisons Department in the course of daily detection and surveillance. All of these photographs were taken by Thomas and Jack Nevin at the Hobart Goal where the Port Arthur inmates were relocated from as early as 1871 through to the Port Arthur closure in 1877. All prisoners by 1874 with sentences longer than 3 months were being received at the prison in Hobart Town from regional lock-ups. The Nevin brothers held exclusive rights to the commission.

Caption: Thomas Harrison – 3 months for being idle and disorderly

and its verso with Nevin’s government stamp.

Recto and verso of convict Smith carte with Nevin’s studio stamp
Carte numbered “199″ on recto QVMAG & AOT Ref: 30-3244

Why does this carte of Smith bear Nevin’s studio stamp? The question has been asked by photo historians with little consideration to the realities of government tender. It was one of several chosen by Nevin to access his commission, register copyright with the police office, and renew his contract under the terms of the tender. Only one photograph was required per batch under the terms of the Patents Act (Victoria). There is nothing out of ordinary about this carte which would set it apart from more than 200 extant mugshots taken by Nevin in the 1870s – its framing, processing and pose are consistent with Nevin’s commercial portraiture of the period, the verso stamp being used to identify the photographer’s joint copyright with the government.

Verso of convict carte of William Smith per Gilmore (3)
with T. J. Nevin’s stamp printed with the government insignia, the Royal Arms.

POLICE RECORDS for William Smith per Gilmore 3:

Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, James Barnard Government Printer.

William Smith per Gilmore 3, discharged with TOL 10 September 1873, received from Port Arthur. Note that his age and physical measurements are not recorded at the Police Office because no photograph existed prior to his release. When Nevin photographed him on arrest in April 1874, Smith was wearing a combination of prisoner and civilian clothing. He was also unshaved. The photograph exhibits a degree of liminality of the prisoner’s state: free on a ticket of leave but contained as a criminal in the open prison that was the island of Tasmania.

Click on images for readable version

Smith reoffended again in April 1874, sentenced to 12 months and photographed by Nevin on incarceration at the Hobart Gaol.

Wm Smith discharged 1st April, 1875.

Suspicion attaches to William Smith per Gilmore 3, 23rd April, 1875

Wm Smith per Gilmore 3 Warrant for arrest 23 April 1875.

Thomas Nevin’s knowledge of Smith from face-to-face contact while photographing him in 1874 was used as an adjunct in the written description issued by police of Smith’s coming under suspicion for theft just three weeks after his release on 1st April, 1875. Smith was arrested 3 months later in July 1875.

William Smith arrested, notice of 9th July, 1875.

Thomas Nevin photographed William Smith again wearing a hat. This is another “booking photograph” taken on the prisoner’s arrest on 9th July 1875. His dress here signifies again a liminal state between TOL freedom and prison.

William Smith per Gilmore 3.
Photo by Thomas Nevin, July 1875
Stamped verso with Nevin’s government stamp
Mitchell Library NSW PXB 274 No.1

The first carte is numbered “199″. This, the second of William Smith is numbered “200″ and it is another original photograph by Thomas Nevin which bears Nevin’s stamp with the Royal Arms on verso. It is held at the Mitchell Library, NSW, among others by Nevin acquired by David Scott Mitchell prior to 1907. The sequence of numbers is insignificant, whether transcribed from a police register, or whether devised by archivists in the 20th century. There is no real-time-based relationship between the photographs: in one William Smith is bewhiskered and wearing a patterned scarf (April 1874); in the other he is clean shaven and wearing a plain neckerchief and hat (July 1875). They were clearly taken at different times during Smith’s well-documented criminal career.

Verso of photograph of William Smith per Gilmore 3.
Photo by Thomas Nevin, July 1875
Stamped verso with Nevin’s studio stamp and Royal Arms
Mitchell Library NSW PXB 274
Photography © KLW NFC The Nevin Family Collection 2008-2009 ARR

When Thomas Nevin sat down to read The Mercury on the morning of 24th October 1872 and turned to an article reprinted from the London papers on “the valuable working of the Prevention of Crimes Act, or as it is better known, the Habitual Criminals Act” of 1871, he was more than aware of the use of photography by police. He had already taken photographs of prisoners at the Hobart Gaol at the behest of his solicitor and mentor since 1868, Attorney-General William Robert GIBLIN.

Left: Attorney-General W. R. Giblin,
Photo by T. J. Nevin ca. 1874
AOT Collection
Right: Convict Charles Downes
Photo by T. J. Nevin 13 Feb 1872
NLA Collection

The British Prevention of Crimes Act, tabled on 21st August 1871, Section 6, stipulated:

... regulations as to the photographing of all prisoners convicted of crime who may for the time being be confined in any prison in Great Britain or Ireland, and may in such regulations prescribe the time or times at which and the manner and dress in which such prisoners are to be taken, and the number of photographs of each prisoner to be printed, and the persons to whom such photographs are to be sent:

Section 6, full details:

1. Register of Criminals.

   1. 6. Register and photographing of criminals

6 Register and photographing of criminals

The following enactments shall be made with a view to facilitate the identification of criminals:

(1)Registers of all persons convicted of crime in the United Kingdom shall be kept in such form and containing such particulars as may from time to time be prescribed, in Great Britain by one of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, and in Ireland by the Lord Lieutenant:

(2)The register for England shall be kept in London under the management of the commissioner of police of the metropolis, or such other person as the Secretary of State may appoint:

(3)The register for Scotland shall be kept in Edinburgh under the management of the secretary to the managers of the General Prison at Perth, or such other person as the Secretary of State may appoint:

(4)The register for Ireland shall be kept in Dublin under the management of the commissioners of police for the police district of Dublin metropolis, or such other person as the Lord Lieutenant may from time to time appoint:

(5)In every prison, the gaoler or other governor of the prison shall make returns of the persons convicted of crime and coming within his custody; and such returns shall be in such form or forms and contain such particulars in Great Britain as the Secretary of State, and in Ireland as the said Lord Lieutenant, may require; and every gaoler or other governor of a prison who refuses or neglects to transmit such returns, or wilfully transmits a return containing any false or imperfect statement, shall for every such offence forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty pounds, to be recovered summarily:

(6)In Great Britain the Secretary of State, and in Ireland the said Lord Lieutenant, may make regulations as to the photographing of all prisoners convicted of crime who may for the time being be confined in any prison in Great Britain or Ireland, and may in such regulations prescribe the time or times at which and the manner and dress in which such prisoners are to be taken, and the number of photographs of each prisoner to be printed, and the persons to whom such photographs are to be sent:

(7)Any regulations made by the Secretary of State as to the photographing of prisoners in any prison in England shall be deemed to be regulations for the government of that prison, and binding on all persons, in the same manner as if they were contained in the first schedule annexed to The Prison Act, 1865:

(8)Any regulations made by the Secretary of State as to the photographing of prisoners in any prison in Scotland shall be deemed to be rules for prisons in Scotland, and as such shall be binding on all whom they may concern, in the same manner as if the same were made under and in virtue of the powers contained in “The Prisons (Scotland) Administration Act, 1860:”

(9)Any regulations made by the Lord Lieutenant as to the photographing of prisoners in any prison in Ireland shall be deemed to be byelaws duly made by the Lord Lieutenant, and shall be binding on all persons, in the same manner as if the same were made under the authority of the Act passed in the session holden in the nineteenth and twentieth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter sixty–eight:

(10)Any prisoner refusing to obey any regulation made in pursuance of this section shall be deemed guilty of an offence against prison discipline, in England within the meaning of the fifty–seventh regulation in the first schedule annexed to the said Prison Act, 1865, in Scotland within the meaning of the rules for prisons in Scotland, certified under the hand of one of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, under and by virtue of “The Prisons (Scotland) Administration Act, 1860”, and in Ireland within the meaning of the fifteenth regulation contained in section one hundred and nine of the Act passed in the seventh year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, chapter seventy–four:

(11)Any authority having power to make regulations in pursuance of this section may from time to time modify, repeal, or add to any regulations so made:

(12)Any expenses incurred in pursuance of this section shall be defrayed as follows: (that is to say,) The expense of keeping the register in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin shall, to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Treasury, be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament : The expenses incurred in photographing the prisoners in any prison shall be deemed to be part of the expenses incurred in the maintenance of the prison, and shall be defrayed accordingly. This section shall not apply to the prisons for convicts under the superintendance of the directors of convict prisons or to any military or naval prison.]

These regulations were observed by the police and prison authorities in Tasmania, whenever the circumstances permitted. The “dress” prescribed by regulations required two types of photographs: a “booking photograph” in which the prisoner wore his own civilian clothes, usually taken on arrest; and an incarceration photograph, showing the prisoner in standard issue prison uniform during his service of a sentence. Examples of both types of photographs, and of the same prisoner, are extant and bear Thomas Nevin’s official government stamp with the Royal Arms insignia (QVMAG; SLNSW; NLA). Nevin made at least three duplicates from his original glass negative of more than 300 prisoners: one to be pasted to the criminal’s record sheet; one to be held at the Central Registry, Town Hall, and one or more to be circulated to police in the event of release or warrant for additional offences.

The article in The Mercury which Thomas Nevin read on the morning of 24th October 1872, detailed the role of prisoner identification photographs as an effective means of crime control:

TRANSCRIPT

… Here, again, we have a reduction of nearly one-fourth of the total amount, while the same return shows the valuable working of the Prevention of Crimes Act, or as it is better known, the Habitual Criminals Act. In 1869 crimes of violence had risen to a total of 441, while there was every probability of a still further increase. The strong representative powers vested in the executive police were immediately acknowledged by the criminal classes, for in the following year the number had fallen to 326, although for some years previous there had been a general advance. The system of supervision by the police, the accurate registration and photographing of prisoners, though still in its infancy, and requiring further development, has given the police a greater knowledge of the previous life of criminals and a considerable control over their actions, while the payment of the gratuity money to discharged prisoners …

Extract from The Mercury, 24 October 1872
From the London papers reporting the impact of police supervision
of prisoners and habitual offenders through the use of photography.

The Tasmanian Colonial Government introduced formal amendments to the Police Act of 1868, with additions made according to the amendments to the Victorian Police Act 1873, by which time Thomas J. Nevin had photographed inmates at both the Hobart Gaol and the Port Arthur penitentiary, and continued to do so until the mid-1880s. His contract of 3×3x3 years with Attorney-General W.R. Giblin was effective from 1868, formalised before January 1872 and tabled as a full time civil service position on Thomas Nevin’s appointment to the positions of Office-Keeper and Hall Keeper for the Municipal Police and Mayorial Offices at the Town Hall in 1876. His contract expired in January 1881.

Above: Thomas Nevin, Office-keeper for the Municipal and Police Offices of Hobart Town,
published in The Mercury January 1st, 1878.

During those years Thomas Nevin was responsible for the Criminals Register at the Town Hall Office and its supplement of his prisoner ID (identification) photographs. Thomas Nevin’s younger brother and assistant at the Hobart Gaol, Jack Nevin, continued with prisoner identification photography at the Hobart Gaol until his (Jack’s) death in 1891.

THE CASE of CHARLES DOWNES

Prisoner Charles Downes, transported on the Rodney 2, was photographed by Nevin at the Hobart Gaol on 13th February 1872 when Downes was sentenced to death, reprieved to life imprisonment, for the rape of a 9 year old girl. This duplicate of Nevin’s original photograph is held at the National Library of Australia, incorrectly catalogued with the date “1874” and the place “Port Arthur.” Downes’ name too is incorrectly spelt as “Dawnes“.

National Library of Australia Catalogue
nla.pic-an24612634 PIC P1029/6 LOC Album 935
Charles Dawnes, per Rodney 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.6 x 5.7 cm.
Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]

The Archives Office of Tasmania also holds a copy or duplicate with the prisoner’s name spelt correctly as “Downes”, with Nevin’s correct attribution, but with incorrect details pertaining to the date and place of photographic capture. The mount is numbered “44″.

POLICE RECORDS
Between 1871 and 1875, the police gazettes show just THREE records for Charles Downes per Rodney 2.

1. His arrest for petty larceny on 23 August 1871, published 1st September 1871:

Charles Downes was arrested by the Hobart Town Municipal Police for the theft of a mason’s hammer and new spade, the property of Henry Surman. The notice was published in the police gazette, 1st September 1871.

2. His release from the Hobart Gaol, 29 November 1871.

Click on images for readable version

Charles Downes, discharge published on 29 November 1871.

3. His conviction for rape and death sentence

Within weeks of his release, Downes offended again. On 13 February 1872, he was convicted for rape of a 9 year old at the circus on the Domain.

The gazette was prepared by the Municipal Police Office for their Central Registry, located at the Hobart Town Hall. It was printed weekly by the government printer James Barnard, and formally titled Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police.

NEWSPAPER REPORTS

Details of the crime were made public in The Mercury, 15 December 1872.

The Mercury 15 February 1872

Charles Downes was found guilty on a charge of feloniously assaulting Dorothy Smith, aged 9 years, in Stacey’s revolving circus in the Queen’s Domain, and remanded for sentence.

Public outrage at capital punishment, sparked by the execution of Job Smith whom Nevin had photographed under the alias of William Campbell (NLA and TMAG Collections), referred to the reprieve granted to Charles Downes, as well as Marsh and Henry Page, in letters to The Mercury, May 29th 1875. This letter expressed disbelief in the inconsistencies of the sentences:

Capital Punishment: Marsh, Page and Downes reprieved,
Job Smith executed.
The Mercury 29 May 1875

Charles Downes was granted a reprieve. He died in custody at the Hobart Gaol. The inquest into his death was published in The Mercury 13 August 1878.

Death of Charles Downes,
Inquest reported in The Mercury, 13 August 1878

TRANSPORTATION RECORDS

At the Archives Office of Tasmania:

1. Names

2. Conduct records

Convict Records show Charles Downes was tried and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1847 at Guildford (UK), was convicted for theft of a leaden weight and minor thefts of turnips and chickens for shorter periods, and arrived in Hobart on the Rodney 2 on 20 December 1851. He received a conditional pardon (CP) and ticket-of-leave (TOL) in August 1853.

Someone has written on this record this information -

“Tried SC Hobart 13th February 1872. Rape. Death
described committed to imprisonment for Life. PA. Hb 2/4/1877“

- and signed and dated the annotation at Hobart, 21 April 1877. This annotation was probably made for the compilation of the Criminal Register at the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, in the same year 1877, in which The New York Times published an article (March 25 1877) from The London Times reporting the publication of a Register of Criminals for the years 1869-1876.

New York Times 25 March 1877

Complete page of Downes’ transportation conduct record
Archives Office of Tasmania
Click on image for readable version

See more of Nevin’s MUGSHOTS at Picasa

From Nevin’s Eleven Convict Cartes Mitchell Library NSW

Convict portraits by Thomas J. Nevin at the NLA

Webshots of Nevin’s convicts at Archives Tasmania

TRAVELLING PHOTOGRAPHERS 1874

On this tour, Clifford and Nevin travelled on the main road north from Hobart to Launceston.

Courtesy State Library of Tasmania
Samuel Clifford ca. 1874
Melton Mowbray from the Bothwell Road
Ref: AUTAS001124850124

Tasmanian professional photographers Thomas Nevin and Samuel Clifford were close friends and business partners from the 186os until Samuel Clifford’s death in 1890. In the final week of September 1874, they were passing through Bothwell, 45 miles north of Hobart, when they were enjoined to photograph the procession of Templars attending a large meeting. The newspaper, The Mercury, reported their arrival in the town in a long account of the meeting, published on 26 September, 1874:

Samuel Clifford and Thomas Nevin in Bothwell
The Mercury 26 Sept 1874

TRANSCRIPT

The members of the Order, according to their respective lodges then formed in procession outside the building, where a capital photograph was taken by Messrs Clifford and Nevin, photographers of Hobart Town, who were located in the township on a travelling tour. The township was then paraded, the band striking up some lively airs, but a smart shower coming down, the procession was speedily dispersed in every directions in quest of shelter.

Nevin photographed one of these Templars around the same time. This carte features a senior member surrounded by the usual items of Nevin’s studio decor, plus his big tabletop stereoscopic viewer – see this article here on this site:

Above:
Freemason with Nevin’s tabletop stereo viewer ca 1874
Courtesy The Lucy Batchelor Collection

PURPOSES of the TOUR

1. Advertising for Samuel Page’s Coachline between Hobart, Oatlands and Launceston.

Both photographers and their boxes of photographic equipment travelled on Samuel Page’s coaches on this tour. Thomas Nevin had a commercial commission to produce advertisements for Samuel Page (an example is held at the QVMAG, Launceston). Samuel Page ran a service for the Colonial Government, carrying both the Royal Mail and prisoners from rural lock-ups who were destined for the Hobart Gaol.

Sam Page’s license
Tasmania Reports of Crime, James Barnard Gov’t Printer 1874

2. Police photographs

Thomas Nevin had police business to attend to at the Bothwell Court House which included the delivery of duplicates of his photographs of habitual offenders for men wanted on warrants and believed to be in the region. He took this photograph of the court house exterior before departure.

Bothwell Court House
Courtesy Archives Tasmania

See this article: Working with police and prisoners

3. Scenic views for commercial sale

Clifford and Nevin produced stereographs of the River Derwent at New Norfolk, the Salmon Ponds at Plenty, and general scenic landscapes along the main route.

Images courtesy State Library of Tasmania
Refs: AUTAS001124850256; AUTAS001124075771

Click on images for large view

T. Nevin salt paper stereo
Salmon Ponds
TMAG Collection

See these articles:
T. Nevin & Samuel Clifford identical views
At the Salmon Ponds and Plenty

4. Preparations for the Transit of Venus

Samuel Clifford had arranged a meeting with Alfred Biggs at Campbell Town who was preparing for the visit of an American expedition to photograph the Transit of Venus in December, headed by Charles Raymond . With William Valentine who had made his home The Grange available to the expedition, school master, bank officer, astronomer and inventor Alfred Biggs would assist with the construction of the brick pier for the transit instrument and the wooden hut.

Source: New York Times

See also this article:
Captain James Day, father-in-law

This photograph of fellow Wesleyan Alfred Biggs was taken during their visit, probably by Nevin.

Courtesy Archives Tasmania
Carte of Alfred Biggs
Ref: 30-2892c

Verso inscription on several cartes held in public and private collections, possibly an example of either Nevin’s or Clifford’s handwriting.

RELATED ARTICLES main weblog

• Clifford & Nevin, Hobart Town: tinted cartes
• T. J. Nevin’s Christmas cards 1874
• Red and violet: the impact of Brewster stereoscopy
• Stereographs by Clifford & Nevin at ‘Narryna’
• T. Nevin & Samuel Clifford identical views
• Rocking Stone party, Mt Wellington
• At the Salmon Ponds and Plenty
• Teenager with tinted sprig
• Hand-tinted carte by ‘Clifford & Nevin, Hobart Town’
• Nevin’s big tabletop stereograph viewer with Freemason
• Captain James Day, father-in-law
• Working with police and prisoners

Francis Shearan,
Photo by T.J. Nevin 1878

The Hobart newspaper The Mercury of June 26, 1879 was a special edition in many ways for Thomas Nevin. It contained a dramatic account of the riot at the Town Hall the previous evening, details of which may well have been supplied to the reporter by Nevin himself who was not mentioned as the Town Hall Keeper probably because he was upstairs keeping the source of the trouble, the Canadian renegade Catholic Pastor Chiniquy, hidden from view of riot leader O’Shea downstairs in the “Irish Corner” of the Hall. Chiniquy did not deliver his scheduled lecture that evening, nor the next.

The Mercury, 26 June 1879

In the very next column of the newspaper appeared a report on an inquest conducted into the death of prisoner Francis Shearan, together with an eye-witness account of his death by another prisoner Ephraim Booth. Francis Shearan and Ephraim Booth were both photographed as prisoners by T.J. Nevin at various junctures of their careers as habitual offenders. Younger brother Jack Nevin, employed on salary at the Hobart Gaol, assisted Thomas Nevin in producing these photographs for the Gaol records plus duplicates for circulation to regional police and for the central registry of criminals held in the Town Hall at the Municipal Police Office.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

Two different photographs of Francis Shearan are held at the State Library of NSW in the David Scott Mitchell Collection. These two are among the nine catalogued photographs by T.J. Nevin of Tasmanian prisoners at PXB 274.

Prisoner photos by T.J. Nevin 1870s
SLNSW © KLW NFC 2009

The earlier one (left) is posed in similar fashion to another by Nevin of convict William Harrison (QVMAG; AOT; Kerr 1992) in which the prisoner is facing the camera with arms crossed. The darkened background of the oval vignette (on left) was used by Nevin more often than the softened edges and clear background (on right) for producing the final carte-de-visite print to be pasted to the criminal’s record sheet, although both formats are common and evident in the portraits of his family members and private patrons.

The earlier photograph is a “booking photograph”, the classic mugshot of today, taken on Shearan’s arrest. He was still dressed in his own clothes, unshaven and in need of a haircut. He was “F.S” – free in servitude – serving an employer in the North West Bay area of the island prison which was Tasmania. Remanded and then sentenced, he was photographed again at the Hobart Gaol (aka the Campbell Street House of Correction) wearing the standard issue blue diamond patterned prison scarf. But which photograph was really taken when? The date transcribed on the verso of the booking photograph merely gives the year “1877″. The date on the verso of the photograph on the right documents the date of the sentence handed down. The exact dates on which the photographs were taken cannot therefore be taken as necessarily those on the versos. The date of the sentence was transcribed from a police register or gazette, such as the police gazette records below, and probably by an archivist decades later (1900s).

Neither photograph is tinted, and neither bears any wording about “Port Arthur”, a clear indication that Nevin’s other cartes of prisoners which bear the inscription “”Taken at Port Arthur” on verso (QVMAG and NLA collections) were incorrectly labelled by someone in Tasmania after 1907, the year David Scott Mitchell acquired these photographs (among other items by Thomas Nevin’s family) and bequeathed them to the State Library of NSW.

The photograph of Francis Shearan on the left is documented verso with the inscription:

” Francis Shearan, ‘North Briton’ Murder of Lawrence Fallon, 1877“.

The photograph of Francis Shearan on the right is documented verso with the inscription:

” Francis Shearan, ‘Murder, 8 years, 25-7-78“.

Francis Shearan was transported as Francis Sheagan from Dublin, departing 20 December 1842, arriving Hobart on the convict ship North Briton, 4th April 1843, according to the convict shipping records held at the Archives Office of Tasmania:

63460
Sheaghan
Francis
04 Apr 1843
North Briton
20 Dec 1842
Dublin

It may be a coicidence that quite a few of his fellow transportees on that ship also died of “natural causes”. Between 1870 and 1878, the police records show a number of inquests due to “natural causes” for North Briton convicts.

POLICE RECORDS: The Crime, The Warrant and The Sentence

Notice in the weekly police gazette, 15 February 1877.

Warrant for the arrest of Francis Shearan, 11th November 1877.

The warrant notice described Shearan much as he appeared in the booking photograph on left when arrested on 17th November 1877.

Francis Shearan was arrested on 17th November 1877. He was transferred from Kingston (a few miles south of Hobart) to the Hobart Gaol and photographed on being “received”, the usual procedure for sentences longer than three months.

The police suspected Shearan aka Sheagan of deliberately setting fire to the huts with the intent of covering the death, possibly by shooting, of Lawrence Fallon, a felon with criminal records pertaining to illicit distillery. Yet Shearan had buried the body, and shooting was not established, so he was sentenced to only 8 years on a charge of manslaughter. It was Fallon who came to haunt Shearan in his dying days at the Campbell Street House of Correction 16 months later, looking at him and talking to him.

These notices appeared in the weekly police gazettes. On 15 May 1878, or thereabouts, Shearan was remanded for murder.He was 66 yrs old when sentenced for the manslaughter of Fallon.

Notice in the weekly police gazette, 2 August 1878.

Source of police records:

Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, James Barnard Government Printer.

DEATH IN THE GAOL.

From The Mercury, June 26, 1879:

“An inquiry was held yesterday at noon at the Bird in-Hand Hotel, Argyle-street, before the coroner, Mr. W. Tarleton, and a jury, of which Mr. William Dove was foreman, into the circumstances attending the death of Francis Shearan, who was a prisoner serving a sentence in the Campbell-street House of Correction, and who expired in the institution on Sunday last, Shearan was sentenced In July last to eight years’ imprisonment for the wilful murder of Laurence Fallon, [illegible] … was known as the North West Bay murder. He was twice previously tried for the murder, but the juries were unable to agree.

Dr. E. O. Giblin, visiting Surgeon at the gaol, deposed to having been called in to see the deceased some six weeks since. He found him suffering from great weakness and debility, and ordered his removal to the hospital ward, where he had since remained in bed, only occasionally rising for an hour or so. He was suffering from no disease, except melancholy, being under the impression that the man he had been sentenced for killing was in the habit of coming to look and talking to him. Deceased gradually got weaker and weaker, and died on Sunday morning, the 22nd instant, from debility and old age, having had every attention and comfort that the case demanded. Deceased had only performed light work previous to his illness, and his death was from natural causes.

Ephraim Booth, a prisoner in the gaol, who waited on the deceased, also gave evidence as to his having died in his presence early on Sunday morning. Deceased was well treated, and made no complaint of any kind, though he often refused to take his food.

The Coroner said, addressing the jury, that there was one special purpose in the holding of these inquests on persons who died in gaol. It was expressed by an old author in the following terms :-” It is observable that this statute being wholly directory, and in affirmance of the common law, doth neither restrain the coroner from any branch of his power nor excuse him from the execution of any part of his duty not mentioned in it, which was incident to his office before ; and from hence it follows, that though the statute mention only his taking enquiries of the death» of persons slain or drowned, or suddenly dead, yet he may and ought to enquire of the death of all persons whatsoever who die in prison, to the end that the public may be satisfied whether such persons came to their end by the common course of nature, or by some unlawful violence, or unreasonable hardships put on them by those under whose power they were confined.” The Coroner was from this reason compelled to hold an enquiry, and had no discretionary power at all. There was in all probability not much danger now of such violence or hardships being inflicted, and the law was most likely but the remains of an ancient statute, absolutely necessary in olden times when gaols were conducted, as they knew, in a very different manner to the present custom. Although it might appear unnecessary to the jury that they should be called together in such instances, still there was the law, and it must be carried out. In this case the man’s death was apparently caused by extreme old age and debility, and from the evidence it was shown that he was treated with every kindness, and furnished with due and proper nourishment. Therefore, he thought there was only one verdict he could direct them to return-that death arose from natural causes, and that there was no ground for attributing blame to anyone.

The jury then returned a verdict to that effect.”

[end of newspaper article, The Mercury, June 26, 1879]

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)

Jack (William John) Nevin (1852-1891)

Photos Copyright © KLW NFC 2009 and The Nevin Family Collections 2005-2009 ARR.